This invention relates to the lowering of serum cholesterol levels in mammals, especially humans. Elevated serum cholesterol levels are well recognized as a risk factor in heart disease. That is, the higher the serum cholesterol level, especially low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), the more likely a patient is to develop heart disease. After a patient has already developed heart disease and suffered a heart attack, the higher the serum cholesterol level, the more likely that patient will have another heart attack.
Hence there are well recognized benefits to lowering serum cholesterol levels.
There are many compounds available by prescription to lower serum cholesterol. Probably the most commonly used are the HMGCoA reductase inhibitors, e.g., lovastatin, prevastatin, simvastatin and fluvastatin.
While these compounds have some effect in lowering serum cholesterol, they do not always achieve lowering to a desired level, and they have undesirable side effects in some people, such as muscle necrosis and hyperkalemia.
The present invention lowers serum cholesterol with a well-tolerated active ingredient. Furthermore, in its preferred aspects, the present invention is believed to achieve significantly lower serum cholesterol levels than the HMGCoA reductase inhibitors.